Jack

...new seals in the brake master cylinder. Try this: Sit in the car with the engine running - car stationary. press the brake pedal hard and keep it pressed. Does it very slowly go down towards the floor? It's an MOT failure if it goes down under constant pressure. The testers tend to do this on older vehicles to check the state of the master cylinder seals. If they are worn then the hydraulic fluid leaks past them (it remains in the system) and you get reduced braking effort - as you describe. I bet your braking from high speed is prolonged and breaking at low speed is short duration. Good luck Jack

Clarkey ...a bit out of my depth, but with the problems you describe I'd be looking at a faulty speed sensor... Good luck Jack

Saga - £395 fully comp jap NA (value £3000) inc business use and +15k miles per year. Mind-you, you'll have to wait another 30 years... Good luck Jack

...happened to me and it was the bearing seal on the water pump. Stationary it was ok - moving it leaked. If you've an undertray you should be able to spot white tell-tale deposits... Carry a bottle of water and keep it topped-up or it'll get expensive. Good luck Jack

Chris ...I'm the creative director of a design company called 2Cs Communications. Have a look at http://www.2cs.com and if you like what you see, drop me a line. I believe we have a mutual aquantance in Linda Kilbride... Good luck Jack

...took your advice, just called one and he says about £20. I'll take it in and see what happens. thanks again. cheerz Jack

Andy - thanks for the prompt reply ...any idea about how to check the altenator? I've dismantled the non-working altenator and you can easily see that it's one of the carbon contacts thats excessively worn. Should I do the same with the new second-hand unit? ..it was a nightmare to fit - I don't relish the thought...

...altenator packed up, so I thought it was a failed battery. Repalced old battery with a Bosch Silver 64Ah 640A - nearest match to the old one. That promptly went flat, then I suspected the altenator. Sure enough, it's had it's day - not charging at any speed. Bought a new (2nd hand) altenator from AndyZ on Friday. Fitted it, and this ones registers about 13 volt when the engines' running. So, now, I've a faint red glow on the battery warning light that increases with speed. Question is, do I suspect the 2nd hand altenator, or have I bought a battery that's ''too big'' for the altenator? ...any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks in advance Jack

...I'll try that - what amp output should it read? ...sorry if I'm being dumb, but car electrics are not really a strong-point, nor are household electrics either...

Update: ...thanks guys. Voltage check (on Thursday night) revealed nothing coming from old altenator. As I use the car every day, I bought an altenator from Andy on Friday as he lives 1 hour from me. Many thanks for the offer ya5een. Fitting was difficult due to awkward access but it's in and registering just over 13 volt at 2000rpm. Thanks again for all of the advice. cheerz Jack

...car dosen't have an alarm. But I fitted a new CD player last Sunday - can't believe that would drain a brand new Bosch Silver in 2 days... You've got me thinking now as I had to disconnect the 2 switches for the heated seats and I could have reconnected them wrongly... Something else to check tonight...

...many thanks for the prompt replies. I'll try the 14 volt at 2000 rpm tonight - and if it's knackered I'll be buying that altenator from you - which I presume is in good nick? cheers Jack

Question 1 - if the altenator stops charging, does a warning light apear on the dash. Question 2 - if the altenator has stopped charging is there a simple voltage regulator in the altenator that can be replaced. ...as you may have guessed, the battery's flat with no warning. I use the car daily (NA), so I bought a new battery 2 days ago (it was over 3 years old) and all seemed well, but this morning it was dead again. ...any answers greatfully recieved. cheers Jack

...in a word Grim. There's a nice blue 2+2 M reg 44k miles on there for £3k - and then there's some silly - or should I say - more realistic prices being charged by the (so called) garages - in the 4 to 6k region. I say Grim as mines an NA with about 130 k miles on the clock - so I'd get nothing for it. It's not worth selling as it runs real fine - always has done - so it's time for a new cam belt etc and I'll run it for another 5 years...

...looking at whats available re Z's - lots of NA's - anyway, some of the descriptions demonstrate the general lack of knowledge re the Z or the plain - I don't want to use the word ignorance - of the descriptions. My favourite was ''electric sunroof'' - turned out to be a convertable. And ''Matt Black'' was a nice shiney black TT... ...its also amazing how almost none of them describe the car - one even listed the centre console storage thing as ''integral armrest'' - which it is but really, what a waste of words when you could get really excited about the car... The other funny thing was some of the prices... cheerz Jack

...76.9 currently at Morrisons - about 89p for Optimax around here. I treat it to Optimax if I'm off round the M25 for the day... Scottywil - you should put leather in your NA. I did mine about a year ago and it transformed the car. Best £300 I've spent on it...

...works out about 24mpg over 75,000 miles at 79p per litre (Morrisons).

...couldn't live with all that black, black, black and black - and even the tyres are black. The black's bad enough even with a red one.

in about 3 weeks time I'll have had my Z for 5 years. In that time it's been used daily and covered about 15k miles per year. £30's worth of petrol lasts for on average 200 miles - so I recon I've spent £11,250 on petrol in 5 years. On the plus side - it's never been off the road (well, 3 days whilst waiting for a waterpump) and any 'servicing' I've done myself. It's just started it's 3rd set of tyres and the only real hassle I've had has been with front disks and tie rod bushes. Also, 5 years ago it came with a 2nd hand original nissan exhaust and since then I've replaced the centre section (£10) and it's still running the same back boxes. So - do I change the timing belt etc and run it for another 5 years or do I chop it in - must only be worth £2k - and buy the same again only younger? ...it's a 1990 red NA - and it needs some paint on it's nose... Thoughts please, cos in 5 more years it'll be a 20 year old sports car... cheerz Jack

I've had the same result with over-square tires (no jokes please) on standard wheels. Just put a set of Bridgestones on the wheels - it did have Mitchelin Pilots - and now its stopped hunting the camber. Mind you, the grip is not as good, but they were cheaper than the Pilots... 1990 Na used daily...

...to start with the vibration caused by the gearbox mount used to cut in between 60 and 80. Then, when they re-surfaced the road outside of my house, you could feel the vibration at slow speeds. I use the car every day, but often at weekends it's parked-up and gets started again on Monday mornings. So, allowing the weekend for the gearbox mount to sag, running it over the super smooth road, the vibration was like having a flat spot on a tyre. First thing I did was have them (and the ballancing) checked. Transpired that the vibration went away as the movement of the prop, engine and all of the mounts warmed everything up - until the 60 to 80 speeds when it came back... If I were you I'd have the rear wheels balanced first. Good luck Jack

...vibration might not be the centr bearing - it might be the rear gearbox mount. They sag with age. I replace the centre bearing in my NA only to find that the vibration remained - and it dissapeared when I replaced the (Auto) gearbox rear mount. Next vibration you'll need to sort is wheel balance - surprising how sensitive the car is to uneven tyre wear or the loss of a balancing weight. And on the subject of vibration, under breaking, it's not always warped disks, more likly to be tie rod bushes deterioating (offensive judder at hard brakeing from speed - or wheel judder when travelling at speed)... Warped disks give the car a slow judder when you come to a halt slowly. ...been there - done that... Good luck Jack

Summers start at 16 degrees (with a warm coat - roof comes off.) With heated seats 12 degrees will do. Mind you I live in the driest county in the country...

...simple questions really... Do you want a prety car or an ugly car? Do you want a car that has a removable roof - for those long hot English? summers? good luck Jack

Martin ...when I got a set of heated UK spec seats for my NA, and pulled everthing apart, you'll find the wiring loom is completely different. I tried as best I could to incorporate the switch and all of the wires that came out of the UK TT, but it appeared impossible. Simple solution was to wire up a pair of switches on the dash from a live feed (ignition on) to the seats. It works ok, you just have to remember to switch of the seats - not a problem as they get pretty hot... Good luck Jack